Former marine Alex Cairnie had heard whimpering for several days before he found a tiny white puppy lying filthy, bleeding and smothered in glue in the war-torn streets of Iraq.

He searched until he found the "lifeless" animal, wedged under a container in 45C heat in southern Basra.

Working in the oil and gas industry as a materials specialist, the 39-year-old was forbidden to have any animals on site but was compelled to help the creature, which was close to death and covered in ticks.

Working as a Royal Marine commando from 1997 - 2004, Alex had seen dogs similarly mistreated in the Middle East and west Africa.

He couldn't bear to see another animal left to die so decided to take War Paws home to Scotland.

He said: "I heard a dog crying for days but searched everywhere and saw nothing. I asked workmates but they couldn't hear it and said I was imagining it. I knew I wasn't.

"After a few days I got under a container and there she was, wedged solid. I think she had been there four or five days so was very very lame and dehydrated. We got her out eventually but she was almost gone.

"Having had dogs and bred pups all my days I thought she would perish but she fought back and amazed me."

Since finding the puppy on Saturday, Neilston-born Alex has cleaned her wounds, removed 30 ticks from her inner ears and shaved off all of her matted fur to remove the hardened glue.

He posted videos of War Paws, named after an animal welfare charity, on Facebook and was instantly inundated with messages from concerned Scots.

A crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe has since been set up with hundreds raised in 24 hours to pay for medical treatment and shipping back to Scotland - the target is £3500.

Alex returns to the UK on Monday and hopes to give her a home alongside several other family dogs.

He says: "It's been a nightmare to get her out of here. I've seen dogs treated horrifically so I'm not shocked, just saddened. But you just get to work on them and bring them back.

"My Iraqi friend has taken War Paws with him out of harm's way to be vaccinated and treated, I hope from an actual vet. If she didn't go tonight I couldn't see her lasting so it's worth the risk and the money.

"My friend Jeniffer Jonsen started it [crowdfunding]. I don't really like things like that but within hours it went viral with about 40,000 accumulated views. I never expected this to be honest, I was just showing folk a video.

"I leave Iraq on Monday I will ship her to the UK. If she survives and quarantine is successful and I will keep her for good. The special ones are worth the effort."